1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sanitary product and more particularly relates to a disposable, personal protector which covers the basin portion of a sink, particularly sinks in public toilets such as those in airplanes, trains, buses, and related forms of public transportation.
2. Description of Prior Art
Public health concerns have resulted in many public toilet facilities in restaurants, airports, aircraft and similar places providing toilet seat covers. These toilet seat covers generally consist of a sheet of paper with a partially cut-out center section. When placed in use, the center section must be torn away or partially separated from the rest of the cover and the cover is then placed on the toilet seat. No such covers are contemplated or provided by airlines on extended flights such as international travel where sinks are likely to be used for shaving with either conventional or electric razors. When used as such, often times the user fails to adequately clean the sink afterwards. Conventional paper towels when used to cover a sink are inadequate as the paper often falls into the basin and/or is wetted when it touches the drain area where water often is present. Plain paper and plastic covers are inadequate in a number of other respects in that they are often flimsy with no means for attachment to rim of the sink thereby interfering with their intended use. Also, since these prior art covers are simply placed over the sink, they are easily displaced when rubbish is dropped onto them or simply slip from the rim of the sink during use. An example of this prior art structure for which this invention is an improvement is recited in U.S. Pat. No. 5,991,942 entitled “Disposable Sink and Drain Protector and Rubbish Protector” that issued to Neal on Nov. 14, 1999.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,979,237 entitled “Disposable Sanitary Protector Cover for Toilet” that issued to Hazar et al. On Dec. 25, 1990 teaches an improvement for a disposable toilet seat cover wherein a retainer member is used. The retainer member may be in the form of a flange or tab to engage the inner edge of the seat to temporarily secure the protector in place during use and/or may be a frictional material such as latex or a low-tack adhesive.
In the known prior art, there are disposable head rest covers, disposable medical examination hand covers or gloves, disposable bandages to cover wounds, disposable toilet seat covers adapted with releasable adhesive, and disposable floor mats for automobiles.
As evinced by the foregoing, the prior art covers are generally inadequate and ineffective for their intended purpose nor do they intimate the novel structural approach for detachably affixing sink covers to the rim of a sink presented herein. Accordingly, there exists a need for an effective sanitary, water-resistant protector for sinks, particularly public sinks which protectors are disposable and will remain in proper position above the sink during use.